Rockets enter baseball playoffs as region champs
The Neshoba Central Rockets wrapped up the Region 3-5A baseball championship and have drawn a first round bye going into the Class 5A state playoffs.
The Rockets will be playing Thursday night when they visit Germantown.
“They won their region and we won ours,” Coach Jonathan Jones said. “We didn’t want to go too long without a game so we scheduled one with them.”
Last week, the Rockets defeated Cleveland Central 10-6 to conclude their region schedule. They closed out the regular season with a 7-6 win over West Lauderdale.
Against Cleveland Central, the Rockets scored one in the first, one in the third, four in the fifth and four in the sixth. The Wolves scored two in the first and four in the fourth.
Bryceton Spencer was the winning pitcher. He helped his cause with a single while scoring one run and knocking in two more.
Cade Hall hit a triple and a single. He scored two runs and knocked in two more. Dagan Martin hit a triple and a single while scoring two runs. Reid Hall hit a double and scored two runs. Ramie Harrison hit a double, scored a run and knocked in three more. Jacob Killens had two hits, scored two runs and knocked in another.
With his team down 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh, Harrison hit a two-run homer to lift the Rockets over West Lauderdale.
Harrison went four-for-four on the night. He scored two runs and knocked in five.
“Some of our players have never beaten West so this was a big thing,” Jones said. “We have been playing a lot better over the last 10 or 15 ballgames so we have the confidence to beat somebody the caliber of them.”
Neshoba Central had scored two in the first, one in the third, one in the fourth and one in the fifth. West Lauderdale scored one in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
Rhett Stovall was the winning pitcher. Reid Hall hit a double and a single while scoring two runs.
Playoffs
The Philadelphia Tornadoes wrapped up their regular baseball season with a 5-15 record. In the final week, the Tornadoes lost 11-0 to Northeast Lauderdale and 17-1 to Nanih Waiya. The Tornadoes finished third in their region and will enter the playoffs Thursday against the second place team from Region 8.
The Choctaw Central Warriors will play Corinth in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs. The Warriors, 8-10, visit Corinth in the first game Thursday. They will host on Friday. If a third game is needed, it will be played Saturday at Corinth.
The Warriors closed out their season last week with an 8-1 loss to Choctaw County and 8-0 loss to Kosciusko. Andre’ Jim hit a double and a single against Choctaw County.